New wall in Calais: do we really remember the comments against Orban in reference to the Hungarian wall against migrants?

Construction of a UK-funded wall near Calais‘ so-called Jungle migrant camp will begin soon, UK Home Office says. Dubbed the “Great Wall of Calais” by some media, the 4m (13ft) wall will run for 1km (0.6 miles) along both sides of the main road to Calais port. (BBC)

Majority of the titles in the international press are quite soft commenting Britain’s decision to build a fence in Calais. We should definitely remember the comments made against Orban when the Hungarian PM decided to build the wall on the Hungarian-Serbian border:

Budapest autumn: hollowing out democracy on the edge of Europe. (The Guardian)

EU spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said Brussels “does not promote the use of fences and encourages member states to use alternative measures”. “We have only recently taken down walls in Europe; we should not be putting them up,” she added. (Irish Times)

Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency, also attacked Hungary. “The right to seek asylum is an inalienable human right. So we’re concerned that erecting a fence would place too many barriers to this right”, she told Reuters.

Illiberal leaders, including Orban, threaten to reshape the world order in their image, replacing principles of freedom and law — albeit imperfectly upheld by Western powers — with cynicism and corruption. The West needs to understand how these regimes work and how to confront them. (New York Times)

The Hungary PM made a ‘rivers of blood’ speech … and no one cares. (The Guardian)

“We have only just torn down walls in Europe; we should not be putting them up,” commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud complains. (Irish Times)